SPRING ZINE-ING - TO THE CURB AND BEYOND JUNE 2021 OONAGH E. FITZGERALD Art Making, Sharing, Performing & Completing in the Neighbourhood as we Emerge from the Pandemic A SOCIAL ENGAGED ART PROJECT ZINES DIY self-published, independent, pamphlets, magazines, artbook, comics etc. Recent examples: skater, graffiti, Black Lives Matter Touchable, affordable, personal, raw Artists: Walter Moodie, Emmanuel Okot, Ross Le Blanc, Mikaela Kautkzy, Venise 410B, Raphael Fitzgerald-Biernath https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2013/ jun/30/punk-music “riot grrrl no. 1, Molly Neuman and Allison Wolfe, July 1991. All you need to riot grrrl 1980’S - start a counter-culture revolution is a few sheets of A4 paper, a typewriter, a 90’S photocopier, a Sharpie and some old magazines. Zines were fast to produce and easy to distribute. My Life with Evan Dando, Popstar, Kathleen Hanna. In 1993, Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna created a visually raw mock-psychotic fanzine … to explore violence, objectification, misogyny and the politics of creative success… inspired in part by rage and horror at the anti-feminist [Montreal] mass … [murder]”. A VOICE FOR “Slant no. 5, Mimi Thi Ngyuen, 1996. ANYONE & riot grrrl was criticised for failing to be truly inclusive, or EVERYONE transcending its status as a predominantly white, middle-class movement. But there were riot grrrls of colour, who in classic punk style seized back the conversation on race. Zines such as Slant, Bamboo Girl, Evolution of a Race Riot and Chop Suey Spex refused the identity, as Ngyuen puts it, of ‘voiceless victims or objects-to- be-rescued of white punk anti-racist discourses’.” “ALIEN SHE”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp-VI9KUvBw Especially since COVID-19 there have been more internet VIRTUAL ZINES enabled podcasts and visual zines e.g., https://creativecloud.adobe.com/discover/article/read-these-10- unmissable-zines-to-get-through-2021 https://www.indigenousaction.org/podcast/audio-zine-voting-is- not-harm-reduction/ Cleaning out the basement of our house ‘we’ found hundreds of rolled up large wall calendars from 2009. With much difficulty and the help of a large heavy carpet I unrolled and flattened some of them. I folded them into zines, cutting a slit in the middle of the WASTEPAPER page and then reopening and flattening them to paint. Themes emerged about recycling, reusing and repurposing paper, creating less waste and being imaginative with what we have. FOLDING PAPER - Origami Senbazuru: 1000 Cranes https://www.kyuhoshi.com/origami/ FOLDING PAPER - HOW TO FOLD AND CUT A ZINE https://www.vice.com/e n/article/d3jxyj/how-to- make-a-zine-vgtl fold and cut your zine … My physical community since COVID has been mostly limited to my neighbourhood. With a Bridgehead Coffee at one end of our block and a locally famous ice cream shop Merry Dairy at the other end, we see many strolling families, couples and groups of friends MY COMMUNITY passing by our house on sunny days. Putting out free objects and books that might be of interest to passersby has become a pandemic family hobby. Last summer we distributed many books, toys and stuffed animals in this way, and cleared many cupboards and bookshelves. Lying Down As I took my daily walks in spring rain, snow, wind and sunshine, I saw green appearing, buds blossoming, birds returning and insects awakening. I took photographs of bushes, trees, flowers etc. that WALKING AMID would make good subjects for the background wallpaper NEW GROWTH painting I do on each zine. These photos are reproduced dimly (with filter) in this presentation before the relevant painting. I sketched and painted loose spring images of tree blossom, dandelion fields, rock and garden plants in water-soluble crayon and paint. Sunbeam Through Crabapple Blossom This research creation project offers free, hand painted zines to passers-by in an Ottawa neighbourhood to learn whether there is interest in taking and completing them, and how participants use the zines. It involves social engagement in preparing a gift for strangers PURPOSE OF and offering it to them to complete as they wish. PROJECT It is intended as a gesture of kindness and solidarity and socially distanced community engagement at a time when social interaction is still somewhat limited by pandemic constraints. It provides an opportunity to participate safely and creatively in a celebratory spring community art project as we start to emerge from pandemic restrictions. Magnolia on a Cloudy Day Transform the tightly rolled up wastepaper scroll into a flattened sheet. Fold it meticulously into the format of a zine. Sketch and paint rough nature scenes in unsaturated MULTIPLE LIVES watery colours. FOR OLD PAPER Put the scanned, printed, folded and cut wallpaper zines on the curb in a box with the invitation to take one and use it in some way. Invite participants to let me know what they do with it. Dandelions Time, resource and pandemic constraints make it difficult to get ethics approval or complete a more complex project, so the social engagement aspect of the project needed to be light. The curbside offering is entirely voluntary with passers-by being free to ignore it or engage and take a zine. If anyone writes to me, I will request their permission to use ETHICS APPROVAL information they have shared, excluding any that would identify them, in my reporting on the project. My Concordia University Abbreviated Summary Protocol Form for this aspect of the project was approved. I document the project with text, photographs and scans, taking notes of any interesting information and reflections gathered during the project. Apple Blossom Over The Canal … BUT IS IT SOCIALLY ENGAGED ART? https://medium.com/kickstarter/ten- artists-on-what-social-practice-means-to- them-9cae0a0f1364 https://www.facebook.com/baronessvonsk etchshow/videos/is-it- interactive/771264153747051/ https://www.on-curating.org/issue-25- reader/socially-engaged-art-in-the-1990s- and-beyond.html#.YFoyINKSmUk Aesthetics: From social to fine art aesthetics. The initial image is aesthetically pleasing and invites unknown additions by unknown participants. Role / function of the artist: From facilitator of co-creation to primary creative agent. I facilitate the project by setting it up and inviting passers-by to take and use\decorate a zine. Origin of the artist: From the community or a stranger. I have lived here for many years and feel we share a common interest in our ON CURATION unpretentious, lovely, walkable neighbourhood. Definition of the “work”: From process as “the work” to a final product as “the work.” My work is done when I release the painted zines into the neighbourhood and people take them. The work continues in whatever the recipients decide to do with the zines. Direction of influence: From inward to serve the community or outward to reach others. The project is a gift from me to the community to encourage creativity and good feelings. Woodpecker Tree Origination of the work: From generated within the community to generated by an outsider. This is generated by me in and helped by my physical and virtual communities and continues to evolve in the hands of any passer-by who takes a zine. ON CURATION Place: From work that is inseparable from a place to work that is not geographically specific. The project is geographically specific …continued to my street in Ottawa but could be conducted anywhere. Issue: From single-issue to addressing multiple issues. The issues are simple and uncontroversial – recycling, solidarity, gratitude for community and creativity, nature and the delights of spring, Duration: From a one-time project to a commitment over many years. This is a spring project to be set up on a sunny weekend but is repeatable. Wisteria The paper was very curly, difficult to flatten, fold and use for artmaking. I needed a large work surface because the sheets of paper were so large. I enjoyed working quickly and boldly to cover such a large area. PHYSICAL The idea of making free art also meant I did not want to CHALLENGES & spend hours and hours on each work, but art sets its own OPPORTUNITIES pace. Each took 3-5 hours to complete. The original water colour paintings were crunchy, textured, delicate and unstable from the crayon and paint used, making them less practical as a drawing or writing surface for the next artist to use, suggesting the idea of making copies. Rhododendrons Presentation of photographic and painted images virtually in Powerpoint without compromising the work is tricky! Taking photographs and scans was difficult because of variations in the light from dull and rainy to sunny days and LOGISTICAL the wrinkly state of the painted zines. I learned a lot about light’s effect on colour but ended up CHALLENGES & getting the scans done professionally. OPPORTUNITIES This opened up the possibility of making multiple copies and repeating variations of the project. To manage printing costs, I made 2 large copies (24 X 36 inches) and 10 smaller copies (11 X17 inches) of each of the 10 paintings. Creeping Flox Over Rocks “Spring Zine-ing to the Curb and Beyond Art Making, Sharing and Completing in the Neighbourhood as we emerge from the COVID-19 Pandemic Please take one of these free, hand painted zine booklets made THE INVITATION with recycled paper, and make something with it e.g., make a greeting card, write your own zine, a private journal, a poem or a love letter, decorate with drawings, stickers or collage. If you would like to tell me what you did with the zine, please write to me at … with the heading Finished Zine. Photographs of the finished zine are also welcome.” Poppies In Ontario the long, harsh lockdown was somewhat lifted at 12:01 a.m.